


Ego te absolvo...

by justinlovesart



Category: Brideshead Revisited - All Media Types
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-27
Updated: 2011-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 02:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justinlovesart/pseuds/justinlovesart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles Ryder's last sin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ego te absolvo...

His last confessor looks gaunt, his eyes pale, his blond hair dull and much thinner than his age would warrant. Charles Ryder favours that in a priest, this combination of youth and self-mortification: the last vestiges of his own Anglican upbringing, he supposes.

The man of God asks him something, softly, in his native idiom, which Charles does not quite understand. He has been a visitor to this Catholic land for most of his life and the language remains vaguely foreign to him, especially now that he is fading.

He glances at the nervous hands that are holding the Bible, the rosary, and notices the white knuckles stretched painfully around the tools that will grant him salvation. He ought to think of something to confess, quickly, put the young man out of his misery. How seriously he takes his role, how earnest he is in the responsibility of his faith!

Charles casts his mind back to the last few days, searching his soul for a spark of guilt.

"Eggs." He breathes out at last, quite faint to his own ears. " _Uova_ ," he repeats, surprised that he should remember.

The young confessor’s dismay does not last long, immediately replaced by an indulgent smile. "Did you enjoy them?" he asks, in cautious English, with that Venetian lilt that still reminds Charles of a lullaby. _Good boy,_ he thinks, _you will go far_.

"I relished them," he replies, hoping to sound as sinful as gluttony allows his old age to be.

Then, when the priest turns around to enquire what "relish" means, Charles adds, more loudly: "Plover’s eggs, you see."

As he hears the familiar absolution (it comforts him that the words are in Latin) he glances at the white wall opposite his final bed, and sees the reflection of water.


End file.
